On Water: Journey of an Indigenous Researcher Guiding Professional Development As Teachers Navigate Native American Curriculum
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On Water: Journey of an Indigenous Researcher Guiding Professional Development as Teachers Navigate Native American Curriculum A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Dawn Quigley IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Mistilina Sato, Advisor Mary Hermes, CoAdvisor June, 2018 © Dawn Quigley 2018 Dedication To my family, Tony, Maria, and Gabrielle, extended family and friends. Without your support and love, this dream of mine would never have been possible. i Acknowledgements Many thanks to my family and friends who supported me in this PhD journey. Also, I am grateful for my committee: Misty Sato, Mary (Fong) Hermes, Tim Lensmire, and Thom Swiss. I also am indebted to all of my teachers and all of my students- past, present and future. Especially I thank my elders who guided me every step of the way; and to Native American students who I continue to support in all of my work. ii Abstract Because only 0.4% of teachers in Minnesota are Native American, nonNative educators must also learn how to teach this content in ways that increase the engagement and achievement of all our state’s students. Yet most teachers are not equipped to teach these standards effectively and confidently. This study offers an emerging Native American female researcher’s analysis of ways to conduct Professional Development (PD) for non- Native K-12 teachers. I start with two assumptions. First, until we are able to radically transform our teacher preparation programs by indigenizing the pedagogical curriculum so as to increase the number of Native American teachers, we must prepare white teachers to begin the journey in learning how to implement indigenous history, language, and culture curriculum. Second, educational researchers need to support classroom teachers in ways that can help them learn to use the many critical pedagogies and PD available to them, helping them develop a culturally relevant practice in terms of Native American literature and content. This study asked: What are nonNative teachers’ experience in PD regarding MN Native American curricular content of history, language, and culture? And: What supports and structures in (PD) add to non-Native American teachers’ experiences as they create culturally relevant curriculum on Minnesota Native American history, language, and culture? I used a theoretical framework of indigenous epistemologies (i.e., indigenous knowledge, locates where it originates and who it encompasses) and relationships by creating a bridge between the story of the empirical literature reviewed and my own stories as an emerging researcher. Indigenous Methodologies (IM) were employed in this study including: a connection or relationship between knowledge and nature theoretical stance on identity seen through water, story as method, and creating relationships with participants. The study focused on three K-12 teachers who participated in five PD sessions with me. Sessions included: Native-created text evaluation; analyzing Native American curriculum; discussions, hands-on activities, critical journal reflections; and reading three iii Native-authored texts. Data were analyzed using my new data analyzing technique of Indigenous Storalyzing which synthesizes IM and uses understanding through embodiment and conceptual thought; story as an indigenous research method used to work through, interpret, and make sense of the data; and analyzing the data and scholarship sources in storytelling. I also place myself in the analysis as the PD facilitator as I conceptualize myself as a guide in the teachers’ PD journey. I tell the stories on water of the three teachers—one who got entangled in the shallow weeds of lake water; one who journeyed swiftly across the water’s surface, but who encountered episodes of freezing; and one who found herself encountering the unpredictable and bumpy ride of water and air in contact with each other. I conclude that teachers in this study had a new surface level awareness and new confidence as they were able to take up how to deconstruct the Minnesota Native academic standards using a critical lens; how they used this new awareness to shape how they took up Native history, language, and culture into new curriculum; how I, as an emerging indigenous researcher, navigated ways to see the difference between creating professional relationships versus personal ones; how to protect my Native identity and personal stories from the “gaze” of some nonNative PD participants; along with disrupting assumptions of how transformational learning. The implications for this research suggest that PD should be extended over many sessions to create relationships and trust; offer updates to the teachers’ administration so they are aware of the content of the PD and changes that may grow from it; offer multiple ways for teachers to respond to the experience; scaffold the background readings of Native- authored texts to ease into the content; and differentiate interactions with the participants. iv Table of Contents Dedication ................................................................................................................ i Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. ii Abstract .................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents .....................................................................................................v List of Figures ........................................................................................................ vi Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1: Introduction: Entry Journey on Water................................................ 1-9 Chapter 2: Literature Review and Critique of Native American Empirical Teacher Development Studies……………………………………………………………10-50 Chapter 3: Identities as Seen Through Water: Mni Waconi, Water is Life ………………………………………………………………………………51-58 Chapter 4: Research and Resistance: Reasons for Indigenous Research Methodologies…………………………………………………………………..59-92 Chapter 5: Analysis: Lessons Learned on Water………………………………..93-143 Chapter 6: Knowledge Fed Water ………………………………………………144-158 References………………………………………………………………………..159-182 Appendices Appendix A: Letter of Consent…………………………………………..183-184 Appendix B: Instruments………………………………………..……….185-195 v List of Figures Figure 4.1 Indigenous Storalyzing .........................................................................81 Figure 4.2 States of Water; States of Being ...........................................................84 Figure 4.3 Key areas of inquiry studied through the research question………….86 Figure 5.1 Map of Forest Lake ..............................................................................97 Figure 5.2 Lake Weeds ........................................................................................102 Figure 5.3 Invasive Lake Weed ...........................................................................104 Figure 5.4 Narrow Lake Channel .........................................................................107 Figure 5.5 Ice Out ................................................................................................123 Figure 5.6 Portaging Between Lakes ...................................................................128 Figure 5.7 Sea Plane ............................................................................................134 Figure 5.8 Wind and Waves on Water .................................................................136 Figure 5.9 White Caps .........................................................................................138 Figure 6.1 Proposed Professional Development Model ......................................152 XXXX. vi Abbreviations PD Professional Development IM Indigenous Methodologies XXXX. vii Chapter 1 Entry Journey on Water Promoting respectful Native American literature is where my fire lay; yet this flame was nearly extinguished almost 35 years ago by the deluge of the wave of my first encounter, for the first time as a child, being mocked and humiliated for my love of Native American literature, and for what I interpreted then, for being a Native person. This was the only time, due to various circumstances, that I was able to attend camp. To alleviate the feelings of being homesick I brought my favorite book, A Winter’s Count , which is a traditional Lakota pictographic retelling of a battle or hunting story. This book was read over and over by me and my mother, yet I still found something new each time I read it--a phrase, a drawing, a lesson. After returning from camp dinner one night I opened the cabin door to find my bag had been riffled through and on the bunk were my cabin mates--one girl held my book and was, in a melodramatic voice, reading my book in a stereotypical “Injun talk” voice. My bunkmates were holding their sides in laughter. I made excuses of why I brought the book, and hid it away for the rest of camp-- along with my identity as a Native person for many years, actually decades, to follow. When I returned home, I assumed I gave my treasured book away, and hid my Native identity for many of my school years. I wish I could remember what I did with this book. Through reading Freire recently, and other indigenous and social justice texts, I am now able to work through the notion that the